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It’s World Wide Wednesday! Here’s what’s news in the world of foster care and adoption around the web:

Raising a Child of Color in America – While White
Our country is far from a “post-racial” society, as this last year has demonstrated. How can you ensure that your child will grow up feeling safe, secure in his identity, and close to your family? Commit to calling out racism and fighting injustice wherever you see it.

It’s World Wide Wednesday! Here’s what’s news in the world of foster care and adoption around the web:

The January edition of Adoption Advocate is always dedicated to presenting NCFA’s policy priorities for the coming year and related legislation. NCFA rarely endorses specific legislation, but instead prioritizes educating key legislators and policymakers on the policies and practices that will provide essential services and the best possible support for children outside permanent family care, adopted individuals, birth parents, and adoptive families. As we outline our priorities in this article, we will also take the opportunity to mention current pending legislation related to those priorities.

How to Adopt from Foster Care
Every one of the 107,918 children currently waiting in U.S. foster care deserves a stable, loving, permanent home. What about yours?

It’s World Wide Wednesday! Here’s what’s news in the world of foster care and adoption around the web:

Recorded Webinar: We Never Outgrow the Need for FamilyThis webinar from the Child Welfare Information Gateway highlighted the adoption story of Mary Lee Esq who inspired the creation of the Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievement Act. It also showcased resources and tools for recruiting families for older youth, strategies to overcome common barriers to adoption, and examples of how to help older youth be open to the idea of being adopted.

It’s World Wide Wednesday! Here’s what’s news in the world of foster care and adoption around the web:

Life after foster care: Mentors help teens prepare. “Having someone to love you and all that stuff — I don’t get that.”

Felix Louis Rivera Medina spoke with a shrug, a matter-of-fact gesture about his life. He is 18 years old and about to age out of Brown County’s foster care system. He has never had a stable home, has been in and out of jail, has no contact with his parents. (Continue reading.)

Helping adopted children cope with grief and loss. Adoption involves loss. Resources in this section can help families understand and help their adopted children deal with the loss and grief associated with adoption.

It’s World Wide Wednesday! Here’s what’s news in the world of foster care and adoption around the web:

New Website: Advocates for Families First.This organization provides information, direct technical assistance, one-on-one and group education to developing or existing foster, adoptive or kinship family support, and advocacy organizations. Their mission is to build a unified national movement in support of kinship, foster, and adoptive families who care for children and youth, promote their healing, and help them thrive.

Trauma Informed Care: New Online Tool. The Georgetown University, National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health and others have recently completed a new free online tool entitled, Trauma Informed Care: Perspectives and Resources. The tool aims to support state and local decision-makers, administrators, providers, parents, and youth and family advocates to become more trauma informed. It includes video interviews, issue briefs, key resources and links that will be updated monthly to keep up with new developments in the field. This FREE tool is now live and available for your use.

PATHS Program Helps Transition to Adulthood after Foster Care. Nineteen-year-old Brianna Deprey, of Algoma, Wisconsin, is getting help on her way to independence thanks to a new federally funded four-county pilot program. When Deprey was growing up, her grandmother obtained court-ordered kinship custody due to problems with alcohol and substance abuse in her home. Now that she is a young adult, she has yet to find a stable home environment. (Continue reading.)

Adoptive Parents Need to be Supported to Help Their Child Grieve for the Past. Children in the adoptive system will have suffered separation, loss and trauma. The child’s “journey” through this process is explained first to adopters and then to children, when they reach maturity, through court reports produced by social workers. The creation of a “life story” book with this information in can help the child understand what has happened to them, where they have lived, who has cared for them and the decisions that have happened in their lives. (Continue reading.)

Before we get to this week’s World Wide Wednesday post, we’d like to wish a very Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate!

It’s World Wide Wednesday! Here’s what’s news in the world of foster care and adoption around the web:

The Joys and Challenges of Parenting Older Adopted Children. Children adopted at older ages—especially those from the U.S. foster care system—typically come to their new families with some history of trauma, abuse, or neglect, and a storehouse of unresolved emotions. But adopting and parenting older children comes with unique joys and rewards as well as challenges. In the November 2014 issue of NCFA’s Adoption Advocate, psychologist and adoptive father Dr. Gary Matloff discusses and shares valuable tips for families that have welcomed older children through adoption.

6 Questions Every Adopted Teen Wants Answered. As children reach the teen years, the simple adoption stories of their early years no longer suffice. In this excerpt from Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens, we take a look at what goes on in the minds of teens, and offer advice for talking with them. (Continue reading.)

Start Talking. Not sure when—or how—to bring up adoption with your toddler or preschooler? Here’s where to begin.

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Camp to Belong WisconsinAugust 13, 2017 – August 18, 2017Camp Anokijig, W5639 Anokijig Ln, Plymouth, WI 53073, USAWhat happens at camp? Camp To Belong -Wisconsin Inc. is much like any other summer camp program with swimming, horseback riding, boating, hiking, archery, arts & crafts, theatre, and fishing. What makes CTB–WI special? Brothers and sisters spend quality time together in special activities that promote the sibling relationship, which include: Scrapbooking: All campers leave…

Foster Care, Treatment Foster Care, and Respite Foster Care Information MeetingAugust 19, 2017 at 9:00 AM – 10:30 AMMilwaukee 76th Street Community Services, 620 S 76th St #120, Milwaukee, WI 53214, USAFoster Care: Provides a temporary family and home for a child until they can be safely reunited with their biological family. Treatment Foster Care: Provides a temporary family and home for children with elevated emotional, behavioral, physical or medical challenges. Respite Foster Care: Provides temporary child care for our foster parents. Due to the sensitive…

New Foster/Adoptive Family Orientation MeetingAugust 19, 2017 at 10:30 AM – 12:30 PMMilwaukee Public Library Bay View Branch, 2566 S Kinnickinnic Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53207, USAFor more information or to register, contact 855-GROW-HOPE or growhope@sainta.org. Or you can register from the calendar at www.growhope.net. Please note: Due to the sensitive content covered during orientation, only adults should attend.

Occupational Therapy for those with Sensory Deficits (De Pere)August 19, 2017 at 10:30 AM – 12:00 PMBrown County Library - Kress Family Branch, 333 N Broadway St, De Pere, WI 54115, USAThe Post Adoption Resource Center of Family Services invites all parents, and professionals, to attend a free workshop entitled, “Occupational Therapy for those with Sensory Deficits.” The workshop will include a brief overview of the 7 sensory systems and what dysfunction may look like in regards to those systems. Information on how Occupational Therapy can…

Mom's Night Out (La Crosse)August 21, 2017 at 6:00 PM – 8:00 PMBurrachos Fresh Mexican Grill, 9432 WI-16, Onalaska, WI 54650, USAJoin us for our next Mom's Night Out in the La Crosse area. We will meet up at Burrachos and eat out on the patio! Two lucky attendees that night will win dinner on us. Register online so your name can be entered in the drawing and if you win, we will buy you dinner!…